Trust now outranks price in choosing an advisor

Trust has overtaken price as the reason investors pick a wealth manager. TransUnion, the Chicago-based credit reporting and analytics firm, surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers. Each had at least $20,000 in investable assets. Among current investors, 65% rank trust and reputation among their top selection criteria. Fees and pricing draw 49%. Among prospective clients shopping for a provider, 58% lead with trust. The message for RIA principals is direct: the industry's price war is being fought for a minority of the market.

What earns that trust is not cheaper advice; it is clearer advice. The survey's two leading trust drivers are clear communication about fees and advice and brand credibility. Each drew 56% of respondents. Fraud concern runs at nearly the same weight: 56% of investors say they are moderately to extremely concerned about how fraud could hurt their investments. Firms slow to talk about identity and account security are putting retention at risk.

“Wealth managers have traditionally competed on performance, products and price,” said Joshua Turnbull, senior vice president of financial services at TransUnion. “Investors are telling us that confidence and credibility matter as much as — and sometimes more than — traditional decision factors.”

Separate research this month from Gallup and Edward Jones tilts the same way. Only 32% of Americans who sought financial guidance in the past year used a professional advisor. The internet-search route drew 73%. Confidence is another score entirely: 79% of adults express at least some confidence in an advisor's expertise, more than double the share who say the same of AI tools. Finance professors drew 64%. Relatives drew 62%. Friends and colleagues drew just over half.

Together, the studies describe a client who researches online and then looks for a person to trust. That turns prospecting into a transparency exercise: the firm has to look trustworthy before the first conversation starts.

The uncomfortable conclusion for a principal is blunt. A marketing plan built on numbers is pitching the 49% and ignoring the 65%. Performance charts, fee schedules, and product lineups speak to the smaller share of the market. As this publication has argued, the move for RIAs is to lead with transparency. The 56% who want clear communication about fees want the price explained, justified, and set in context. Posting the fee schedule and saying what advice costs and what it replaces costs little beyond the nerve it takes to publish.

Trust is now how clients are won. Firms that win new clients will publish fee logic, show security controls, and make credibility visible before the first meeting. The 65% are deciding early. Hand them the evidence.